Remember ‘Bridesmaids’? Touted as the female Hangover, it’s the movie where Annie Walker (Kristen Wiig) seethes with jealousy while her best friend gets married and there’s that famous poop-in-the-road-in-wedding-dress scene. It’s also the movie of the failed cupcake-maker, appearing in 2011, way after Sex and the City brought cupcake tourism to the world.

Image credit: Nitya Bala

Sad cupcakes
Of course, the movie is about the loss of friendship, growing up et al, but it’s also about the loss of something more sugary. Take the sadly romantic scene where Annie makes a batch of cupcakes and contemplates loneliness and her own missing sense of purpose. There’s a loving segment of obnoxiously pretty flowery cupcakes being cooked up and eaten.

Tardy cupcakes
Everything comes late to India. Including cupcakes. Even Sex and the City. It was around the time of Bridesmaids that a battery of cupcake shops started opening up in Bangalore. I
watched, bewildered, as perfectly normal female humans between the ages of 27 and 35 started swooning and rolling their eyes when a box of cupcakes appeared. I remembered them as these little sponge cakes, free of frosting, which we picked up in a pack of four or rare occasions when I was younger. Now they were a forest of purple flowers, red velvet, Oreo cookies and other such abominations.

Image credit: Nitya Bala

Femme cupcakes
Enter the cult of cuteness. Why cupcakes? Why women? Because, firstly, as Sex and the City insists, women need sugar in large doses. It supposedly makes us feel better about our weight loss and man loss issues. Secondly, they’re so darned cute. We like pink, we like purple, we like flowers, we can’t live without frills. Does this really work, you might ask. Up to a point. This is what I think of when I see a cupcake: a big, juicy beef burger.

Bollywood cupcakes?
If a Bollywood version of Bridesmaids were to come up, would we also put cupcake-recession into the picture? Is any of the Angry Indian Goddesses a failed baker? Probably not. Also, we’re still learning our product placement, we’re not really going for nuances at the moment. Yet, we’ve still managed to catch on to the wave, albeit after it already washed over many shores.

Image credit: Nitya Bala

Neighborhood cupcakes
The usual suspect localities in Bangalore will, of course, fulfill any desire for a sugar-rush you might be having. Cupcake Noggins might be a familiar name in Koramangala, while Bite Me Cupcakeshas been having a steady run thus far in Indiranagar. Of course, they all take orders, so you can close the loop: a Sex and the City rerun marathon with cupcakes on the side. If you’re sure the beef burger isn’t a better option.